Poison Blood – Poison Blood (Review)

Consisting of members of Horseback and Krieg, this is 19 minutes of old-school darkness.

This is an ode to old-school black metal, taking a simple and direct approach to the style and incorporating elements of punk into the short, underground songs.

There’s an intensity to these tracks that comes from a love of the style, that much is clear. The songs are brief and raw, both in production values and delivery. The structures and riffs are straightforward and effective, and the tracks are surprisingly catchy in their own little warped ways.

Most of the songs are blessed with visits from the melody daemon, who appears amidst the blackened grimness to shower macabre melodies that somehow sound bright-yet-ancient over the top of the rawness of everything else. Sounding both separate and attached to the rest of the song, when they appear these melodic explosions are quite engaging, bringing a deathrock-esque sense of horror and the occult to the music.

The album ends with the longest song, Circles of Salt, which explores the more atmospheric side of the band that has only been hinted at previously.

Definitely one for fans of the old-school, Poison Blood is a very enjoyable release.